Interval Events
by J. David Reed
Summary: As the Doctor dwells upon past events and old adventures, he realises that he needs something he's lost. With the philosophical help of warrior creature and the little voice in his head, we mark the Doctor's decision that changes everything.


Closing the doors to the TARDIS, the Doctor solemnly nodded.

'For the best,' he muttered. 'Well. On with the show!' he leapt to the console, no idea where to head next. 'Where to, gorgeous?' he smiled, pushing the lever.

For months, (or years, he didn't know), the Doctor whisked around the universe. He saved families from tragedy, aborted destruction and canceled evil plots. Creatures of all descriptions were saved.

He recalled one event, in particular, where a family of small Knolonites had been deserted on a wasteland moon by their platoon.

_Warriors against, well, just about anything, he had been forced to gain their trust, work by their rules, even telling them tales of how he had defeated Sontarans and Judoon a-plenty. Just one of thousands of soldier races, the Knolonites were nothing special. Not particularly vicious or threatening to look at, nor did they have any incredible edge that put them above other races. Therefore, they were a rather defensive race, and hearing about the Doctor's triumphs over other races made them both interested to hear of their downfalls, but also wary. This creature, who had dropped out of the sky in an impenetrable box, was their greatest fears' greatest enemy._

_But he was not a violent man, they realised. And the Doctor made this a very clear claim. He was not here, on this moon they had decided was theirs, to destroy them. Rather, he was there to help them. To get them home._

The Doctor sat on the small bench of his TARDIS console, musing quietly as the TARDIS purred whilst they pit-stopped in Cardiff. He had lived a thousand adventures in the last few... whatever time had passed. He had loved it, and hated it all the same.

It was always a struggle. Always a fight. The fun wasn't fun anymore. It was a war, smaller than him but bigger than the Multiverse. He was trying to save everything from everything else.

Hell, sometimes he thought about just stopping altogether.

But then he would think of her, and his faith would be re-ignited.

_The Knolonites were not usually a cautious race, though they were defensive. Typically violent and easily insulted, the Knolonites were viewed by many as more of a pest (which may have also had something to do with their small stature)._

_Whilst with them, the Doctor had learned something about them that no-one had ever seemed to observe - at least, not to his knowledge; they were a family-orientated species._

_While they would go to war and fight over trifles, the Knolonites held every single member of the community in the highest esteem, not usually having a reason to ostracise or discriminate towards anything. For a war-centered culture, the Doctor found it hard to imagine this, but realised that, whilst they accept everything within their own species as it comes, every other race and creation is seen as 'blasphemous' to them._

_They had created an idea in their heads that said that, no matter what, they were the only creatures that should be in existence. Whilst this may sound similar to Dalek-like values, they didn't often do anything about it until someone else tried the fight first._

The Doctor was tempted to write his stories down at times. He figured that, with all he had seen, all he had encountered, he could make the world, or universe at large, aware of him. Publish his life, see the many cultures scramble as they try to explain and hide the secrets and scandals he'd reveal.

But that was a devilish idea he'd never carry out. Just a faint thought, a tempting little voice in his head. It made him smile, if nothing else.

_The Doctor was at first a prisoner, but was eventually allowed permission to stay with a family of the Knolonites whilst he gathered his case to present to the communion's leader, El, who would decide whether they should, indeed, get off this moon and take his offer to go home._

_His first concern, however, was to discover why they had been deserted in the first place._

_'We're not quite sure,' Hoph, the male dominant he was staying with, replied. 'It was a bit of a shock to us too.'_

_'So you didn't see it coming?' he asked._

_'Would you predict your Grandaddy deserting you and your family somewhere so far from home?' the youngest male, Jik, asked._

_'You'd be surprised what I've seen,' he replied with a smile. 'But you Knolonites, you're proud, accepting folk. You'd never leave your own kind somewhere like this!'_

_'That's what we expected,' Hoph said, whilst preparing the evening's meal. 'But here we are.'_

_'I think you should talk to El,' Jik suggested._

_'Nah. Best place to get info is the town's folk, you lot! Politicians, leaders, all they do is lie. Especially to a white-skin like me. I'm not exactly local.'_

_'No, but you're trusted, Doctor. Your people was wiped out, and your most attributed ally is human; they offer us no threat!' Hoph joked._

Not sure why this adventure stuck in his mind so much, the Doctor listened for the beep of the TARDIS informing him it had filled it's metaphorical tanks and was ready to set off. It came as he was just tempted to leave, to set foot back onto Earth's soft tarmac, crunching gravel underfoot.

Instead he sat, musing, ignoring the beep altogether. He was happy enough here.

He searched the memory for a meaning. For the catch that was filling his mind so much. It was just nagging at him, but he couldn't see it.

_'El has sent a summons,' Jik said, bouncing the next morning. The Doctor had spent the night in an under-sized hammock, which was surprisingly comfortable, but made him eager to get up and out of bed._

_'He has?' The Doctor's lips were heavy after sleep._

_'He says they've recovered something from the ship!'_

_'The ship? You mean the ship that you broke off from, which then left without you?'_

_'I suppose,' Jik said. 'But he says you have to go to his pod immediately.'_

_The Doctor knew the way. He left the confines of the small, flat-packed metal hut and made his way out onto the moon surface. It was a black, diamond-like rock that was covered in dust, but left shining footprints after you as you pace._

_The air was breathable, if a little thin, and there was no wind this morning._

_He found El's hut, which had a gold square on the window to show it belonged to the superior officer, and strode in smiling._

_'Doctor,' El said in his gruff, unwelcoming tone. 'How is your stay with Hoph?'_

_'Excellent, they're a wonderful family. Lots of potential in that Jik, too. Strong mind!'_

_'You know, then' El continued. 'That we have received some of the tape from the ship that was intended to be sent to us. Lo!'_

_A small Knolonite behind El brought forwards a small plate, upon which the scene was painted. At first it showed the ship, and an officer talking._

_'Apologies for the lack of sound,' El said._

_'I can fix that...' the Doctor extracted his sonic screwdriver and buzzed the plate. Sounds exploded from the device - sirens, gunshots, screams. El's face dropped almost as fast as the Doctor's did._

_'They were under attack,' the Doctor said. 'That's why they left you here. They were being attacked and they didn't want you hurt.'_

_'Idiots,' El sniffed. 'We could have fought.'_

_'Maybe your leader had better sense, and knew his enemy was unbeatable.'_

_'Nonsense!'_

_'Oh shut up, you big lump. Be thankful for what they did-'_

_'Stranding us here?! On this rock?!'_

_'Saving you and your subjects, El. Keeping you safe.'_

The Doctor realised where this train of thought was going and he wasn't sure he wanted it to continue. He thought about her too much, after all. It was useless, going back. She didn't want to come. She has that idiot, what was his name? Mickey.

She was fine. Happy.

On Earth.

It would be a quick trip, the small voice in head said. No trouble at all.

'Shut up,' he said out loud, to no-one.

_'Doctor,' Hoph said, as El later made plans to move the colony on the communal ship (which was formed by the joining of every family's pod). 'What did you find out about the ship? The large one?'_

_'That it was attacked,' he told them 'They all died. And El is ungrateful.'_

_'El is a bad ruler,' Hoph agreed. 'But he is all we have now,'_

_'Not once we get you home,' the Doctor said, smiling. 'Them you have your Emperor, your old life-'_

_'We have none of that, Doctor.'_

_The Doctor stopped smiling._

_'It was destroyed, but a force we do not know. Something beyond our comprehension. Nobody died, as it moved us all onto ships, but it told us that we were needed to complete something. To give a message.'_

_'What message?'_

_'Only El knows,' Hoph admitted. They were silent for a moment, sitting together in the pod. 'Perhaps,' Hoph said. 'We should have been more grateful for what we had, rather than angry for what we did not.' He laughed. 'We are not good fighters. We are not good creatures. Untrusting and disloyal to others.'_

_'But you have each other, Hoph, Knolonites are famous for it.'_

_'To what end?' his eyes saddened. 'When do we start to appreciate the people we need?'_

The Doctor was angry. Angry for his own head bringing up this image. This message, of all others.

He couldn't go back for her. He wouldn't. It was too dangerous for her. He was too dangerous. A murderer. An angry, lonely little man with too much power and too much history. And she was innocence and fire and love.

And that's why you need her, his mind whispered.

Out of calculating pros and cons, or out of pure mindless need, the Doctor set course for the Powell Estate, 2005.

He had missed her.

As he landed, it dawned on him that all he had been through were just events in an interval between meeting her and travelling with her. Rose had brought back something he didn't even realise he was missing.

As he opened those doors, however, chiming that line he had been practicing for weeks, finally getting the TARDIS to land at the exact moment he needed it to, he felt the ending of his last solo adventure poking in the back of his head.

_'What was the message, El?'_

_'It makes no sense, Doctor. Why should I tell you?'_

_'Because I make things work. That's me, The Doctor. Fixer of things. Tell me.'_

_'It was two words, emblazoned on our Emperor and on the memory of our world,' El wheezed. 'Bad Wolf.'_

The Doctor didn't know the significance of those words, or why something trying to complete anything would say those words. But they stuck there, and unusuality on the back of this venture. El, Hoph and Jik, as well as the rest of the Knolonites, had found a second ship to board, that had set off after the mysterious creature annihilated an entire world for it's cause. They were fine.

But those two words remained.

****_Bad Wolf._


End file.
